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Three Racers Collect $1000 At Ocala

. Posted in Racing News

OCALA, FL- Racers and fans turned out in droves on Friday night for the "Miller Lite Night of Thousands" at the historic Ocala Speedway. The event paid $1000 each to the winners of three racing divisions, including Ocala's Hobby Stocks, the Amsoil Thunder Stocks, and visiting Sportsman racers from across the state of Florida, plus featured another competitive show from the Gladiator Division. Everyone was greeted by beautiful weather and a well prepared racing surface, but under an ominous full moon things did not go according to plan for many.

Ocala's Hobby Stocks got first crack at the $1000 cash carrot, and from the start it looked like no one was going to get it as multiple spins and collisions resulted in three separate restarts of the race. And if any driver had been counting on a long green flag run in order to gain momentum, it simply was NOT going to happen. Tim Gay grabbed the lead and held it through several restarts after this and that, but Mike Tovet was all over Gay along with a determined Joe Belkey. Also in the mix was Kevin Durden and Donnie Reed, but Reed would become entangled in a later scrape on the track and be relegated to a night of playing catch up from the rear.

As the caution laps added up the officials were forced to shorten the race to 12 laps due to time restrictions, and that resulted in an all out scramble for the win with Tim Gay crossing the line first. But a trip through the tech shed a few minutes later handed the win to Joe Belkey, with Mike Tovet coming in second. Kevin Durden was third, Howard O'Steen was fourth, and Matt Shea got his second top five in two weeks.

The Gladiators ran the second feature of the night with Kyle Morse starting from the pole, but Morse would stumble early with a backstretch spin which gave Sammy Dale the lead. Meanwhile Becca Paugh ran strong in the top three for a few laps until she was overtaken by Ken McLeod and Casey Feaster. And Feaster was not finished, as he began an all out, multi lap battle with Dale that had the crowd on its feet.

As Dale and Feaster battled it out, the 30 machine crept up from the rear of the pack to slip into the top five, and Kyle Morse made up for his earlier mistake by doing the same. Going into the final lap as the Feaster and Dale tussle was getting more heated, Sammy Dale's right front tire deflated causing him to all but slam the wall in turn four. That incident handed Casey Feaster the win while Kyle Morse rebounded to second place and the 30 car finished in third place. Sammy Dale valiantly limped through the final circuit to salvage fourth place while Dave Ladrie used the steady and cautious approach to claim fifth place.

It took four heats and a wild B Main to set the 24 car field for the Amsoil Thunder Stock $1000 to win feature race, and full moon or not, the Thunder Stocks are always going to get physical, especially when there is a cash carrot dangling in front of them. And true to form they took multiple restarts to get the first lap into the books and then continued the carnage throughout the 20 lap race, where it became as much a matter of surviving to the finish as it was to try and finish in first place.

Scott Mooers held the early lead but succumbed to a broken transmission later on that left him dumping fluid in the infield. That handed the lead to Eddie Lake, who then had to contend with Dave Kinsey, Luke Sadler, and Ray Wheeler. Wheeler turned out to be Lake's biggest problem, and on lap 14 Wheeler wrestled the lead away from the blue 96 and held on to collect the win and $1000. Dave Kinsey motored his way past Lake to grab second place and Luke Sadler did the same for third place despite a tire going down in the process. Eddie Lake wound up as the fourth place finisher and Jonathan Appleby hung tough throughout the race to finish fifth.

If anyone expected the $1000 to win Sportsman feature to be any different from the first three feature races of the night, then they left highly disappointed. The contact began early with turn one being the trouble spot, then continued as the cars at the rear of the pack simply could not keep from running into each other. Daniel Woody held the early lead, then passed it back to John Bradley, who promptly gave it up to a hard charging Mark Whitener, all in the first three laps of the race. Phillip Cobb was also in the mix, yet never managed to take the lead if not for trying.

Whitener took advantage of clear sailing ahead once the wrecking at the rear eliminated the damaged cars from the field, and drove away to score the win. Dave Kinsey mounted a late charge and closed the gap, yet fell short and settled for second place as Phillip Cobb placed third. Daniel Woody came home in fourth place, and Nevin Gainey rounded out the top five with David Ponton right behind him in a badly battered car.

On Friday, March 25th Ocala Speedway will welcome the World of Outlaws Late model Series for their final Florida appearance in 2011, plus another rough and tumble feature from the Amsoil Thunder Stocks. In addition to the field of nationally ranked top dirt late model racers that tour with the World of Outlaws, look for several local favorites to try their hand at running with the some of the best. Ivedent Lloyd will take the challenge, as will Tyler Ivey and young racing sensation, Christian Augspurger. The $30 admission for the World of Outlaws will be an "all access" pass, giving every free admittance to the pit area for the night, and for more information be sure to visit www.OcalaSpeedway.com or phone the track at 352-622-9400.

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